EDITORIAL: Ukraine Declares War on Russia

Kommersantreports (English synopsis) that the Ukrainian government has embarked upon a massive and ambitious plan to develop and exploit domestic shale gas resources, thereby reducing its dependence on Russia by a factor of three. Not long after that, Ukraine was issuing bellicose threats to Russia and harshly snubbing the Putin regime.

The reason for this action is obvious: Ukrainians don’t trust Russians any more than Georgians do. Slowly but surely, the malignant Putin regime is managing to spoil every one of Russia’s geopolitical relationships in post-Soviet space.

Only a short while ago, we reported on the Ukrainian government’s effort to prosecute Yulia Tymoshenko on the accusation that she conspired with Russia to bilk the Ukrainian treasury out of billions in improper energy costs. Having realized how dangerous any type of alliance with Russia would be, Ukraine is moving aggressively to forge a partnership with Europe and to break its dependence on Russian gas and oil.

It is truly breathtaking how Russia has managed in such a short time to obliterate all its relationships with the nations who occupy post-Soviet space. The Baltics seethe with contempt and mistrust, as does Ukraine, as does Belarus, and Russia has actually engaged in a shooting war with Georgia.

And let’s not even discuss the open contempt with which Russia is viewed by Europeans and Americans, or the continuous humiliation Russia is experiencing as its attempts to cozy up to dictators end in spectacular failure.

In short, Russia’s foreign policy is as abject a failure as is its aerospace policy, which we deal with in our lead editorial in today’s issue. We fail to see how a rational, intelligent people could tolerate failure this profound and dangerous from their leaders.

33 responses to “EDITORIAL: Ukraine Declares War on Russia”

Sadly Russia has never in its history treated any other nation or country as an equal. They only belittle, verbally trash or subdue and swallow them up to increase the size of the “mother of all Russias.”

If Russia was as wonderful as Putin wants to make everyone believe, then why is the intelligentsia leaving, better still forsaking, Russia in their millions? After all no one forsakes or emigrates from a country unless there is a real reason for making them to do so.

Sadly enough, both in Georgia and Ukraine, once two of the richest USSR republics, GDP per capita is at the average African level. After 20 years of independence, economies of both countries were, literally, destroyed by the few very pro-Western governments. That’s sad.

GDP per capita in the Soviet Union was even less relevant to the actual well-being than it is in any western country.

After the Soviet Union went belly up, the commies in power caused really hard times. But now the living standards are far higher than they were in the soviet times. There are much more freedoms and prosperity now than it was ever before.

The sources you provide to prove your claims are correct are very impressive, they show you to be a very thoughtful and educated person.

By the way, in Soviet times everyone said also “there are much more freedoms and prosperity now than it was ever before.” Soviets were talking about Tsar, now you talk about Soviets. But the result was collapse of USSR, and Russia will collapse as well. Your ignorance of your own history is mind-boggling.

Contract was signed, signed by Yulia ‘maiden of Orange revolution’. Price was too high? Then why did she agree to the terms?

Well, price is high in fact, but does Ukraine have any choice? Or chance to win that umptienth gas war? First line of Nordstream is ready, so traditional Ukrainian weapon in gas wars with Russia is neutralized. What can Ukraine do (besides whining) to force Russia to its terms?

auriga, let’s see what are russia’s options to ‘deal’ with ukraine;
russia can invade ukraine – an invation of georgia scenario
russia can kill yanukovicz – a political slaughter of Polish President scenario
russia can continue destabilization of ukraine – provocations by thousands upon thousands of russian kbg agents in ukraine; to follow russia’s instigated ‘fall’ of M. Topolanek’s government during Czech’s EU presidency to discredit Czech Republic.
russia can continue to cause so called ‘environmental’ disasters e.g., the hungarian environmental catastrophy [cause of this disaster NEVER found] followed by branding Hungary a Nazi state, during Hungarian presidency of EU; the whole far left in the EU parliament, controlled by russia, performed an absolute stalinist type of provocation during the EU Parliament session. THOSE ACTIONS WILL NOT CHANGE. HOWEVER, THE FACT THAT RUSSIAN ARMY [THAT IS 50% MUSLIM AND CENTRAL ASIAN ALREADY] IS EATING THE DOG FOOD, THAT RUSSIAN PLANES FALLING OF THE RUSSIA’S SKIES MORE OFTEN THAT DURING THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN. THAT RUSSIA HAS LOST ANY CREDIBILITY ON THE INTERNATIONAL ARENA; THAT RUSSIA IS HUMILIATED BY DEFEATS IN LIBYA AND SYRIA..So auriga, what would be the next step in the russia’s ‘glorious’ foreign policies??? DO TELL….

Hello! It is less then a month when I’ve tried to turn your attention to the strange developments around this case.

I hope now that Kremlin has supported the claims were made here you will pay a closer attention as to what is going on in Ukraine and how the US State Department is engaged in this case protecting the lucrative contract for the Kremlin.

to Auriga (another pathetic Russophile)
re: does Ukraine have choice with Nordstream coming on line. Yet it does. 1) its not online yet, and 2) even when it does come online (capacity 30bcm), the majority of Russian gas will still go through Ukraine (capacity of 160 bcm + storage + cheaper pumping costs + some countries can’t easily be connected to NordStream

2) What can Ukraine do besides “whinning”. Only a Russophile would phrase it like this. Well for starters, Germany’s main gas transport company has taken Gazprom to the Stockholm arbitration committee, and Ukraine’s Naftogaz has threatened to do the same thing — especially since it pays more than Germany which is further away down the pipeline.

Any why is it “whinning” if one legitimately argues “why do we pay more for the same product than others do?”. Is this simply not a valid case?

Oh wait. Your a Russophile and mother Russia is always right and never wrong.

On “resorting to attacking”: wasn’t it you who said, “Auriga (another pathetic Russophile)”

On “refuting arguments”:)

“Any why is it “whinning” if one legitimately argues “why do we pay more for the same product than others do?”. Is this simply not a valid case?”

Ever said a phrase “why must I pay more according to the contract I signed, than others pay according to the contracts they signed?” Ever? Once in your life? Guess why not? Can you come to a shop and ask for a same price for a house, or a car, that your neighbour was offered – three years ago?

Ever checked how much Ukraine pays? Or how much it paid during all these 20 years? I mean, really checked, not read what FT journalists “think” about the price? Ever compared the price to prices for others?

PM, you’re not operative, you’re indoctrinated. Indoctrinated and not willing to spend your valuable time looking for sources and thinking for yourself. If so, why don’t you just refrain from discussions then?

Ukraine’s government snubbed Russia’s demands Thursday for closer economic ties in exchange for cheaper natural gas supplies, raising the temperature in long-running price talks between the two East European neighbors.

Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said Ukraine’s membership in the World Trade Organization meant it couldn’t join a Moscow-led Customs Union of former Soviet nations.

In separate comments, Energy Minister Yuriy Boiko said Ukraine wouldn’t sell its key natural gas pipelines to Russia or merge the two countries’ state energy companies, both of which Russia has pushed for in recent months.

Ukraine has for more than a year been lobbying for a discount on natural gas prices, saying they are too high and are weighing on its economy. Russia has dangled an offer of a large discount, but has insisted on deeper economic integration that would anchor Ukraine in its sphere of influence.

Did the true christian Orthodox Churches finally declare war on the Moscow KGB “church”?

It appears that the rest of the world is beginning to understand that the Moscow KGB “church” is just another way for the KGB to control the Russian sheeple.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Top Orthodox Christian Leaders Meet in Istanbul; Patriarch Kirill Not Invited Due to Dispute with EP

The Orthodox Church Info blog reports today (September 2, 2011) that religious leaders of the Orthodox Christian world met yesterday at the Fener Greek Patriarchate in Istanbul.

The Divine Liturgy yesterday morning was conducted by the Greek Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. The ceremony was attended by the patriarchs of Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria, while Archbishop Hristostomos II of the Greek Cypriot Orthodox Church — known for his strong political statements regarding Turkey — also partook in the ceremony.

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia — Russia’s top religious leader — was not invited to the Liturgy , according to sources with the Ecumenical Patriarchate (EP).

As an Orthodox Christian who left the Moscow Patriachate some five years ago, I have to say I hope LES is right.

The flashpoint is probably going to be the issue of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Nicholas at Nice in France. A French Court of Appeal recently awarded ownership of the building to the Russian Federation which has assigned it to the Moscow Patriarchate – ignoring the fact that since the 1920s the Cathedral has been loving cared for by a Parish under the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Orthodox Canon Law is absolutely clear that ownership of a building does not carry any right to nominate the priest to serve at the altar there. So, the canonical title to the use of the church rests with the Ecumenical Patriarchate. We are already hearing reports that the clergy and members of the Ecumenical Patriarchate parish are finding stocky Russians in the grounds of the Cathedral intimidating and threatening them as they go to worship. (Something very similar happened in London in 2005 before the Moscow Patriarchate took over the Cathedral in Ennismore Gardens).

This has all the potential to cause the breaking of communion between the Russian Orthodox Church and the rest of the Orthodox world. I do not think that Patriarch Kirill and his entourage have any appreciation of the gravity of the situation. In all this, the Russian Orthodox Church has been the aggressor and has shown a flagrant disregard of the canonical order of the Church and the basic teachings of the New Testament.

As a non-Christian, it’s not my business to judge who is right or wrong here. But that’s what happens when a church becomes an arm of the state.

To assign this St. Nicholas building to the Moscow Patriarchate, the Russian state must have owned it first, and it did according to that French court. But how could a state (other than the Vatican) own a cathedral in the first place?

Well, he could not outright sell Naftogaz to Gazprom. But, splitting it into pipe-operator and extracting companies (to void contract) is exactly what Gazprom wants – pipe out of government control, stripped of other liabilities. Then “independent investors” buy shares in the pipe-operator, and Gazprom buys these investors.

Another bit of news: the Patriarchs meeting in Istanbul/Constantinople have apparently told the Moscow Patriarchate to keep to its canonical territory – i.e. keep out of everywhere beyond the boundary of Russia itself. That has obvious implications for Ukraine, which was not part of the Russian Empire when the Patriarchate of Moscow was established in 1589 and assigned the lands then directly under the rule of the Tsar – “Moscow and the Far Northern Territories”.

In the early 1990s and later on, Kirill was accused of having links to the KGB during much of the Soviet period, as were many members of the Russian Orthodox Church hierarchy, and of pursuing the state’s interests before those of the Church.[19][20][21][22][23][24] His alleged KGB agent’s codename was “Mikhailov”.[25]

“Kolyma is the Russian Calvary and perhaps those who tormented people on this earth, pronounced terrible words during transporting convicts “step to the right, step to the left – shooting without warning,” couldn’t imagine that a grand cathedral will be erected here,” the Patriarch said after the prayer.

He called the cathedral “a great sign showing that God’s truth is alive and none even most powerful human forces can destroy this truth” and called it a symbol of victory over evil, “faith in Christ, as for confessing Him many people were exiled here to Kolyma to become martyrs.”

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